♪ haslinda: coming up on "bloomberg best," the week and conversation from the world economic forum in davos. leaders in business, economics, politics, and finance share their insight and outlook on critical global issues. >> you have markets in global -- in record highs, and as we know, these things do not go in a straight line. >> it feels stupid to own cash in this kind of environment. >> i think it is one of the big crimes that we do not talk about. haslinda: from heads of companies through heads of state, high-profile guests address topics of high importance. >> it is important for the future of the city of london. >> we have to face our social and environmental challenges.

>> the lives are being saved for very small amounts of money. >> the last thing the world needs is a currency war. haslinda: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best". ♪ haslinda: hello, i am haslinda amin. from the world's economic forum in davos, switzerland, welcome to a special edition of "bloomberg best". we have met with the most influential people in the world, discussing what they think are the most important topics and the most urgent challenges facing business and society. we have also been keeping our eye on the stories shaping business around the world. starting monday when legislators agreed to reopen the u.s. government.

>> senators, duly chosen and sworn, having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. reporter: the senate moving to end of the u.s. government shutdown after three days with a temporary spending bill funding the government through february 8. yousef: president trump has signed a bill to end the government shut down which leaves the dreamers fate still unresolved for another three weeks. >> there are a lot of good people in congress and the senate but the system is broken. if you step -- if you spend your time blaming the other side and bipartisanship is a dirty word and it gets you hurt in your primary, then we are doomed as a country. >> president trump has long talked tough on trade, he may be taking some action with a decision, putting tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. >> obama had solar power not josh solar power tariffs. it is not a new thing. i thought it was wrong when obama did it and i think it is wrong when trump does it.

it is bad for the american economy, bad for jobs in the united states. >> does the president's decision to slap a tariff on solar imports change anything for you? >> for us, it is not going to change our approach. we generally agree with free trade. it will not change our direction on developing solar projects. reporter: were you planning on making investments in the united states that you might reconsider? guest: we still have plants in the united states to what we bought into in december was about 40%, in the united kingdom. that was the largest solar developer in europe. it has projects in the middle east and india. that is the focus of our -- of that company. i do not know how exactly this will change our direction. not much. >> steve mnuchin is endorsing a weaker dollar. he says "a weaker dollar is good

for us as it relates to trade in opportunities." >> he said a weak u.s. dollar is good for america. do you agree? guest: i think it all depends why. when you think about the dollar today, it has weakened and it has baffled some people. there are two likely scenarios out there. one is what we talked about at outset in terms of the surprisingly stronger europe, the stronger rest of the world has now moved central banks into a position where they can start to normalize and raise rates. just like we saw in the u.s. in 2014, a pretty robust move in the dollar as the fed started that. we can say it's a bit of a correction. if that is what it is about, some adjustment, that is fine. the other side of the potential argument is that there is fear and it is a precursor to a protectionism and potential

trade wars and causing people to shy away from the dollar. if that is what is causing the dollar underperformance, it is more concerning. >> the ecb holds steady. mario draghi seeing very little chance of a rate hike this year. german bond investors see no reason to sell. the 10 year bund level in its highest level since 2015. francine: how can you be so sure that inflation will come to europe? guest: because we see it in the last two years. if you remember two years ago, we had a danger of deflation. it is now over there we had the first success of our monetary policy, and it was a message that we expressed yesterday, a message of confidence and patience. confidence, because we are confident that in the path of gradual normalization of our monetary policy, this gradual normalization is progressing in an efficient way toward our

inflation target of 2%. but patience, because we are not yet there. >> a tumultuous week for the dollar, on wednesday, steve mnuchin laying a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade in opportunities. the currencies short-term value is not of concern at all. in an interview yesterday, president trump said that mnuchin may have been misunderstood. as he put it, our country is becoming strong in other ways and the dollar is going to get stronger and stronger and ultimately, i want to see a strong dollar. francine: there has been so much talk about whether we are entering a phase of currency wars. if we are, how much will that complicate things? guest: it is the last thing that the global economy needs today. we live in a world where

interest rates should not be targeted for competitive purposes. that's what the g7 and g20 have agreed. let us stick to that. we have seen lots of activity -- lots of volatility being created. >> i am here to deliver a simple message. there has never in a better time to hire, build, invest and grow in the united states. america is open for business, and we are competitive once again. >> he sold america first as america for everyone, and did a very good job i think, of speaking to his audience. he almost appeared to be a globalist in some ways.

>> we are also working to reform the international trading system so that it promotes broadly-shared prosperity and rewards to those who play by the rules. >> i think the people there and people around donald trump will think it was a great decision to go to davos, and i think they will be invited back next year. haslinda: still ahead, uber's new ceo discusses the company's cultural turnaround. >> there are no excuses for not doing the right thing. haslinda: up next, the biggest names in finance tell us how they see the global economy, up -- economy. >> we have seen the numbers up with growth, but trade even higher. ♪

♪ haslinda: from the world's economic forum in davos, switzerland, this is "bloomberg best." i am haslinda amin. it's an annual ritual, getting a read on the global economic climate from the world's financial leaders, what are they excited about and what worries them?

we start with the imf managing director, christine lagarde. christine: we upgraded our forecast for 2018 and 2019. what is characteristic of that upgrade is that it is significant. 3.9% for both years. second, it covers a wide range of countries, not just of the emerging markets leading the charge, not just the advanced economies. it's pretty much across the board, but for some countries which are not seeing a capital basis income growing, that is primarily the sub-saharan african countries. when you look at japan, the u.s., turkey, some of the big emerging market economies, we have upgraded pretty much across our range of countries. that did not get an upgrade is the one the united kingdom. we left it where it was.

francine: if we see more protection, does it hurt the forecast, going forward? christine: what we see is growth going up but trade even higher than growth. trade is a significant engine of growth, of reducing inequality between countries, as we had seen. clearly, trade is has to be fair and in accordance with the rules and be reciprocated. the tools need to had by the trade players to make sure this is the case. that is the area where people will rally around some of the themes of president trump. it is not an issue of being protectionist, because protectionist measures generally do not help trade or growth. looking at the rules, resetting some of the rules eventually, in view have what is happened in the last 10 years, whether it is through automation or financing, all of that needs to be looked at on a regular basis.

jamie: it does look that the immediate future is pretty good. there's nothing like the leverage of the system. we had a lot of some prime mortgages. they are gone. households were overleveraged. that is not true. hedge funds were much more leveraged than we are today. that unwound very quickly. reporter: in some respects, it anticipates my next question. is there any reason to believe that this part of the cycle, 2018-2019, are going to be the next 2006, 2007? the euphoria before the crash? jamie: i do not think so. you need that excessive leverage. we are going to have a recession one day, and when that happens, stock prices will go down.

hopefully it will be a normal thing, not that i am wishing for it, but it will happen. >> at this point, i am less worried about monetary policy and the real alignment for a more natural stance, which is starting in the u.s. and europe and eventually moving to japan. we have markets at record highs, and we know that these things do not go in a straight line. reporter: you run a big equity shop. do you think that the prices are overbought, that prices are very high? imagine that i was one of your clients. >> i think that markets are expensive but they are not ridiculous. there are some sectors and if you look at some of the so-called bank docs, they are trading at very high models, but they have extraordinary growth. the way that you value equities is by looking at the net present

value of your future earnings and you look at whatever market model there is today. future earnings are growing and the tax cuts will amp full five that growth. -- will amplify that growth. so, global economic growth, earnings growth, made earnings growth, you will see the s&p reaching highs. francine: because of volatility levels in the market, it has been a tough year in general for investment banks. is 2018 expected to be better? guest: you refer to my comment of taxes, i think it was a huge positive for the u.s. economy and the world economy. if the u.s. economy is doing well, it is important. there will be a lot of investment in the u.s. economy. keep that in mind you feel that protectionism. if the u.s. policymakers want more investment to come in, they will have to be pragmatic.

it makes me optimistic. since the beginning of the year, we have had a rare combination of equity markets going up, volatility going up. this is a very good conjunction of markets going up and volatility increasing a little bit. but you cannot draw too many conclusions from 2017. reporter: you've had a few weeks now to evaluate the tax bill. this is where i am going to start. how it affects your business, how it affects the competitive environment. what conclusions have you drawn? guest: relative to the place of american business in the world, our competitive business has improved. i think we have caught up to the rest of the world, and i think it was an appropriate thing to do to make american businesses competitive with other

businesses in the developed markets. reporter: does it change the competitive environment for your industry? guest: our industry was a relatively high tax-paying industry, and now we have converged with other countries. they did a good job of widening out the base, and there is a common rate for everybody. the have equalized the consequences of keeping money overseas versus bringing it home. it has made the system more sensible. so to that extent, we like operating in the sensible system. francine: do you believe the united kingdom regulators are looking at the u.s. and ready to relax the rules themselves? after all, brexit is happening. guest: post the financial crisis i think there was a consensus around the major economies of the world that we needed to reregulate the financial markets and do it in a way that maintained parity while speaking across those markets. so that no institution could arbitrage one regulator against

another. think a lot of good was done and i think a lot of important new regulation was brought into the financial system over the last 10 years, and we consistently or i consistently supported a more regulatory environment. but now, there is a new equation to it. it does seem as if the u.s. is willing to be very much on the front foot in terms of making the u.s. market competitive. the barclays business strategy is a transatlantic bank, so 40% of our revenue is generated in the united states in riyadh so now, the u.s. has become one of the lowest tax regions that we operate in. that is a new phenomenon we have to recognize. reporter: there is a lot of cash on the sidelines. investors have cash on the sidelines, banks, consumers, and they can feel that they are being left out. it feels stupid to own cash in this environment. i think it will be great for earnings and great for the

stimulation of growth. we have to look beyond that to say, what is monetary policy going to be? how difficult is monetary policy? so, let us take a look at that. we could look at step one, the blowup stage of everything. reporter: before we get to monetary policy, how long do you think we are going to enjoy this perfect environment? when i say we, i do not mean just the financial community, clearly it is good for risk assets and earnings, and stock prices but companies are raising wages, doing hiring and investing.

some of it is trickling down to the real economy. how long will people be able to enjoy that? guest: if you look at it, it will be a 12-18 months growth spurt, and then when that is happening, the central bank will have to tighten monetary policy. >> here we are, financial markets are up three times since the financial crisis. three times. the pool of money sitting in cash worldwide has never been greater. it is a problem. china, 45% of this disposable incomes sitting in a bank account. if you speak to the french financial minister, 72% of all french savings are in a bank account. in germany, no interest. can you imagine the type of inclusion we would have worldwide, if we had better financial literacy, more investing over the long run? the type of financial gains that people would have in their 401(k)? i think that is one of the bigger crimes that we do not talk about, and the reason why i believe we have more momentum because of the pool of money that is sitting around. >> there could be an alliance

between authoritarian states and these large data-rich i.t. monopolies that would bring together a nascent system of corporate surveillance within already developed systems of state-sponsored surveillance. they may even result in a web of totalitarian control. the likes of which not even aldus huxley or george orwell could have imagined. the countries in which such unholy marriages are likely to occur, first, are in russia and china. the chinese i.t. companies in

particular, are fully equal to the american ones. they also enjoy the full support and protection of the president xi jinping regime. -- of the xi jinping regime. the government of china is strong enough to protect its national champions at least within its borders. ♪

♪ haslinda: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i'm haslinda amin at the world economic forum in davos. uber has been under a global microscope, one of the world's most valuable startups has been

mired in controversy as well as burning cash. the new ceo has set his sights on changing the culture and steering the company towards profitability. he discussed his goals with bloomberg editor in chief john micklethwait. >>'s profits one of the things you want to get? i think you lost $4 billion last year. dara: profits will help. at some point, we have to become profitable. that is one of the plans. >> do you have a goal to be profitable by 2022? guest: i think we will be profitable by 2022. >> would you like to go down a bit maybe 2020? guest: i do not want to name a specific year, but this is a business that the core business, the ridesharing business can be profitable within three years.

we will continue to make very aggressive invest in an building out autonomy. we think that is a terrific economy, building out new technologies such as uber elevate, where near-term profitability is not a goal, but long-term growth is. we will look at that but as a company, we will always be a company that makes things go -- that makes big breasts -- that makes big bets and takes risks. >> what about this culture change, you talked about making money, but not at all costs. do those two things? guest: i do not think profitability and culture are the issue. the company in the past was willing to make trade-offs as it related to how we did business. and i think we are guilty of hubris. we were guilty of thinking that the knew better than others, and -- that they knew better than others, and i think what we know now clearly is that breakneck growth can hide cultural issues.

that there are no excuses for not doing the right thing. as a management team, we are specifically talking about the trade-offs that you have to make and we have to be patient sometimes, because working with government regulators sometimes takes longer. but in the end, you build a more lasting business. haslinda: coming up on "bloomberg best," much more from the world economic forum in davos. leaders in government speak frankly about the most pressing challenges. >> with brexit, we would lose the most important voice in terms of the liberal economy. haslinda: and bill gates shares his perspective on the role of the u.s. in addressing mobile -- addressing global problems. bill: i am in there saying, come on, let us keep up the good work.

haslinda: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ haslinda: you are watching "bloomberg best." review of the week in conversation at the world economic forum. i'm haslinda amin. political leaders gathered here in davos this week to deliver economic messages to the world's business elite. and many of them spoke one-on-one with bloomberg television. let's start with u.k. prime minister theresa may, who sat down for an exclusive conversation with john mickelthwait. john: obviously, the news is brexit. we can -- president macron effectively said, yes, he can imagine a deal where financial services could be somehow elongated. only if you went back on things like of course the human justice and things like that. your red lines. would you be prepared to trade

at all on that in order to get more access to business, especially finance, which by some measures is the biggest industry we have? prime minister may: the city of london is hugely important in the u.k. it is also important to the global financial center for the european union and indeed around the rest of the world too. i am positive about the future for the city of london. i think we have -- london is an attractive place. the city has developed over a number of years. people sometimes use the word ecosystem of support around the financial services industry in the united kingdom. john: would you be prepared to trade to keep that access, would you be prepared to do what macron said which is withdraw from some of the red lines, in order to get more access? prime minister may: what i working for, and obviously in december, we reached a successful negotiation on the first phase of our brexit talks with the e.u. -- what i am now working for is looking at the implementation period.

that is that period of time which will enable businesses to adjust to our new relationship after we have left the european union. but i'm clear that we want to develop a deep and special partnership, a comprehensive free trade agreement. obviously we recognize the importance of financial services. and we want to ensure that we can continue to see those financial services, ensuring the city of london retains its role as a global financial center. in the last few weeks i have been talking to financial services in the u.k. and the e.u., as i have done previously. they are positive about the advantages the u.k. has. i want to build on those to make the u.k. even more of an attractive place for financial services to be. francine: what would you ask in return for access to financial services? >> i would like to see the united kingdom remain in the single market and the customs union. they have said they do not want to do that, and i respect that. perhaps we can negotiate

something that is not very different to that. francine: what kind of agreement do you think we will get? is it a norway or a canada plus? leo: it is difficult to speculate. i think it will be a new agreement between the united kingdom and the e.u., so it is difficult to compare it to norway which is a relatively small country. i think it will be a specific agreement for the united kingdom. as ireland, we want that to be as close as possible. so we would have a norway plus, but i think we need to get into the detail now as to what that means. it has been quite sometime since this referendum happened. we need to get down and dirty with the details. ♪ francine: if you were to give me two priorities for the e.u. and 2018, what would they be? pm gentiloni: how to deal with brexit. with the u.k. leaving, we will lose the most important voice in terms of the liberal economy. free trade agreements. completing the internal market.

i have always found theresa may and david cameron were fighting with me and others to do that. the netherlands will now be the biggest country. we are four times smaller than the u.k. in our size of the economy, but we are the biggest one in terms of completely supporting the agendas. we are now working with other countries in the e.u. to maintain that voice of liberalism. it's crucial. because it has an impact on the u.k. for them leaving, their economy. they are now the slowest growing economy in the g7. it will also be an impact on the e.u. secondly, how do we maintain the necessity of reforms within the e.u. of the 27 and the eurozone? my worry is, with low interest rates at the moment, there is not enough incentive to do that. then we get talk about all sorts of new structures. but the most important thing now is that everybody is doing what they, as a country, need to do in terms of fiscal sides, the stimulus in terms of making sure that their economy gets back on a growth course.

reporter: how worried should people be, businesspeople, be about that? are they someone who could take it out of the e.u.? pm gentiloni: i think that the risk out of the eurozone, not only for italy, we should be very cautious to disrupt and derail the mechanism. that in the last years, it brought us almost in all relevant economic areas of the world, to a dynamic of growth. so the issue in italy is we are on the right track. we have to continue in fiscal responsibility, and gradual decreasing of our public debt, and we have to face our social and environmental challenges. the real mission and commitment of the government now is to try to continue to have the confidence of the voters and to continue this reform process also after the elections.

because if we stop the process, what the results we reached in the last years, and we reached them with the sacrifices of the community, the workers, the enterprises, these results would be at risk. so it is a national interest to go on with this right track. ♪ francine: talk to me about what would make you change your mind about euro membership? pm morawiecki: euro membership. is europe is part of the solution or part of the problem? this is the question i need to get answered. because i'm not so sure the euro is over with their issues. i myself was 20 years ago an expert if i may say so in optimum currency areas.

reporter: i remember. i interviewed you. i remember. pm morawiecki: good memory. peter cannon and so on, and the optimum idea between two different geographies is actually extremely important to four areas to get together in the format of one currency. we are not yet there in terms of convergence between poland and the rest of the eurozone. francine: which is fair. what would need to happen for there to be convergence and therefore for you backing poland adopting the euro? guest: many more years of strong economy growth. disposable income average, disposable income in poland on adopting the euro? the level of 80% to 90% of the richest nations, like the dutch like the germans, and so on. also the convergence between the

structure of the economy, like in different sectors, and maybe one very last element. where poland is pushing toward more unity, is freedom to provide services. pm solberg: because so much of our national economy is that they who should be -- reporter: they want to be overexposed. >> not want to be overexposed for this. reporter: do you agree? pm solberg: we believe we are decreasing in oil activity. in norway, we are looking at more areas and others. the long-term policy of norway, and the long-term prospect is of course that we will not get the same type of income from oil sector as we used to have. so maybe it is -- we haven't decided yet. i can't say we agree or not before we have done all of the scrutiny work.

francine: oil is at $70 a barrel. is there a danger that that makes norway more complacent about sticking with oil? mr. ramaphosa: i don't think so. because we have been through a shock on the economy on the oil part. that used to be $140 per barrel. we have had a very slimming of the total supply sector, but also the oil companies in norway. we do see that we get some more of the marginal projects done, basically because of cost cuts. not because of opec. they are building long-term oil prices. and i don't think we will get the same type of complacency as we have had for some years because so much of our agenda is directed towards trying to get the benefits of what the norwegian economy has been better than last years. like for example, tourism. this year, we have nice places in norway if you want to go skiing. francine: how worried are you about the rating agencies cutting your debt again?

mr. ramaphosa: i am much more confident that we now have a better story to put before the rating agencies. and many of us will be actively involved in having a dialogue with them. some of the things we are worried about, we are putting right now. we are correcting issues of political instability. we have become more stable now, we are correcting issues of regulatory uncertainty. we are attending to that. we are also addressing issues of where growth of our economy will come from. and we are also addressing issues of state owned enterprise reform process. and i think we now have a much more positive story to put to them. it is not like last year, or a year ago, when we were all over. now, we have a clear path to the future -- a better future of south africa. and we have got a game plan.

we now know where we are going. and we are ridding our country of all the bad things that have been holding us back. ♪

♪ haslinda: this is "bloomberg best." i'm haslinda amin. .we continue looking back at our top interviews here at the world economic forum in davos. from big picture issues such as gender equality and finance, to specific topics like china's belt and road infrastructure

program, our conversations covered a lot of territory. one timely story we delved into was the progress of negotiations on the north american free trade agreement. >> the mexican economy behaved much better than expected in 2018. the growth rate was higher than expected, around, over 2%. but i have to tell you as well, we have still not done -- we think we can find security -- solutions for this negotiation. reporter: so you are sounding a note of optimism? mr. guajardo: i always say i am not an optimist. i am a positivist. which i believe working on something, you can get it done. a negotiator cannot be an optimist. never. francine: if you look at negotiations, what is the percentage of actually nafta gets ripped apart or it is renegotiated to a point that president trump says, yes, sure, we are still in?

mr. morneau: our plan a is we will improve nafta. i think the way we get to that as being the outcome that should be the expected outcome is we say, you know, nafta provides 9 million jobs in the united states. it has obviously been very positive for mexico. it's positive in canada. our supply chains are interrelated. so the current agreement is working. i think we all recognize is it was done 24 years ago. there are places we can improve. francine: mr. mnuchin yesterday in davos saying a weak u.s. dollar is good for the u.s. economy. are you worried that we are seeing currency wars resurge? chancellor hammond: well, i hope not. he is obviously right that the softness of the dollar is helping u.s. exports, u.s. manufacturers reassert their position. and to the extent that helps to answer some of the questions in the u.s. about the global trading system, make americans feel the system is fairer to them and ease some of the pressure around the trade system, i think that is a good thing for all of us.

francine: the pound has been appreciating quite a lot. therefore would a weaker pound help u.k. exports? chancellor hammond: the u.k. is a very open economy. a weaker pound has two effects, a weaker pound has two effects, it helps our exports but raises the costs of our imports. one of the challenges we have had over the last year or so has been a weaker pound has led to higher inflation and a -- and stagnant real wages. that is driving some of the challenges that we face at home. getting that inflation rate down and a rising pound will help to do that. it helps to drive increases in real wages. and that is good for our economy and good for our society. haslinda: you have committed something like $20 billion in china's growth. why has china become such a strategic market for you? >> we have committed to facilitate financing for the one belt, one road of about $20 billion from here up to 2020. the one belt, one road, i believe, is a formidable

initiative coming from china. in this time we are talking about threats to globalization. it is good to see things that are happening in the east, the commitment to have the transpacific alliance on trade delivered in a few months. the one belt, one road. so a lot of good things are coming from china. the one belt one road may be the single most important positive driver for globalization in this century, if well executed. and done in line with good governance. ♪ reporter: the imf says brazil's economy is going to grow 1.9%. the government says it is going to go 3%. are you more bullish than that? guest: i think 3% is a good number. i think that this number is being revised up by very good number of analysts including the analyst of the finance industry.

reporter: what about the analyst in the chair sitting across from me? guest: the economy is getting better and better and better. actually, the numbers increase by the second half of last year on because the market was stronger. the economy was giving signals that it would perform better. and i think now 3% is a solid number. haslinda: any chance of the boj tapering this year? guest: i am a bit cautious. because the, as you know, we are going to have the presidential election of the vp at the end of september. also, the administration has to increase the consumption tax by october of next year. which means we would like to keep the stimulation of the japanese economy, which means that he wants to have this level of monetary easing policy. it depends on the bank of japan. but bank of japan and the government is now appropriately communicating quite closely.

so having said that, it will -- this level of monetary easing will last for a couple of years. haslinda: we saw demonetization take place. we saw prime minister modi implement gsp. those came at a cost of growth. what does he need to do right to get to 10%? guest: you have to look at the things he did as perhaps laying the ground for dramatic growth. this is his view, and to be honest, it is a view widely shared. a lot of people's at the fact that it slowed down the economy. how about that old adage of taking one step back for two steps forward or even a leap forward?

what he realized was to get the resources we need for reform and high growth, you need more people paying taxes. you need more people coming into the tax net. a miserable fraction of people pay income taxes. and even a of commerce escapes the tax net. so what he was doing was number one, demonetization more than technical exercise, he was signaling we need a clean way of life. we need to move you people into the organized economy. pay your taxes, and we will grow. and the second one, even the goods and services tax in fact brings a large number of smaller businesses into the tax net. india's economy is enormous when you count the unorganized sector. if they can tap into those resources, you will get the money required to invest for the kind of growth you are talking about. reporter: can you actually, within the whole industry, make money in bonds, or are the yields not enough? guest: it is a challenge. it's a real challenge. the key is flexibility. so the -- tom: what does that mean? that is ceo talk if i have ever

heard. [laughter] >> i mean when you have a bond fund, all it can do is make treasury. if you have another, it can go long, short. it has the flexibility to move by geography, by currency. if it has all of those tools, it has got multiple levers to add value. and you can see that coming through. the bond funds which make money in this environment are the ones that have the flexibility to really take advantage. >> i would go into emerging market bonds. there is india's 10 year bond yielding 7.5%. ok it is still local currency. but modi is here, and india is booming. now the chinese market is just about to open up. so there is real opportunity. reporter: you are a leader among women in the american banking industry. what needs to be done for there to be more people like you?

and finally, a woman running a large american financial institution. guest: the more women in senior management, the more likelihood that we are going to get somebody to be the ceo. you have to have succession planning that includes women. i do think we have had a lot of change. so brian put in place when he became ceo, brian moynihan, he put in place a management team, 40% of our executive management team are women. 30% of the board are women. that makes a difference. and if each one of us can mentor and sponsor somebody, we are bringing along a whole other group of women, and i think that is how you do it. reporter: have you equalized pay among men and women at bank of america? >> i think we have. yes. reporter: 100%? >> we think that we are at least at 99%. reporter: pretty close to 100%. >> pretty close to 100%. but not -- you can never stop. ♪

♪ haslinda: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am haslinda amin. let's wrap up our review of bloomberg television's coverage from davos with the second richest individual, bill gates. he spoke with bloomberg editor-in-chief john mickelthwait about his foundations work fighting malaria in africa and how president donald trump's america first budget priorities could complicate those humanitarian efforts.

bill: the balance of hard power or soft power, the u.s. has a ratio emphasizing hard power. and i would hate to see it shift even further. it is part of these budget discussions, the question of do you grow the state department at the same time you are growing the pure defense budget? even the secretary of defense has been eloquent that you do not want to give up your soft power tools. you know, it is all, all being debated. john: you follow history. is this arguably the first case of a global hegemon willingly giving away that hegemonic power by not investing in software and soft power? usually what happens is the hegemon gets pushed out and the soft power goes. in this case, america is pulling back from helping the rest of the world. bill: i wouldn't say it is unique. the u.s. has often had this debate. you know, our relationship with the united nations has had its up and downs under different

administrations. and you know,, you know keeping some pressure on the u.n., to be efficient and reasonable, is not a crazy thing. how far do you go? you know, it is all to do with specifics. in the case of health, the lives are being saved for very small amounts of money. you can aim to both lift the country up so it is self-sufficient and get rid of the disease. it is not a commitment you are stuck with forever. so i think these ones, even in this atmosphere, make the cut. john: president trump, famously all of these countries he described them in a not terribly nice phrase. do you think he should concentrate more on this part of the world? bill: i think he should. that is the area where i have chosen to take the wealth that was created through microsoft, that warren buffett has been so generous in providing, so i understand that that money can be very, very well spent.

so i am in there saying, come on, let's keep up the good work. haslinda: it has been a fascinating week in davos. you can find many more conversations and panel discussions from the world economic forum at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thank you for watching. in davos, i'm haslinda amin. this is bloomberg. ♪

carol: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i'm carol massar. we are inside the magazine's headquarters in new york. this issue, the next generation of digital currency. america eyes energy independence, and an inside look at one of london's most secretive members clubs. all that ahead on "bloomberg businessweek." ♪ carol: we are here with the editor in chief of "bloomberg businessweek," joel webber. a lot of good stories this week. joel: i try. carol: